The Gong Show – CliqueClack Flashback

The 1970s. It was a strange decade for me. I don’t remember tons about those years, but a few things stand out.

I remember hearing The Cars for the first time and asking “Who is this? Those dopey Devo guys … ?!?” (Ironically, I am a monster huge Devo-tee as well as a Cars fan.)

I remember entering high school and spending most of my freshmen year feigning attitude in an effort to ward off seniors who wanted to pound me into the ground. I was the tallest in my class, tall enough that the senior class wanted to test what the cut of my jib was made of. (I perfected my sneer as a freshman and they never truly found out.)

I remember my very first automobile, a 1972 Mercury Montego, muscle car extraordinaire. Mag wheels. A hood that went on forever. 8 track tape player blaring out The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” incessantly through a premium 6-speaker system. Man, I miss that rod.

But I don’t miss the energy crisis. Nor do I miss the disco fashions. I do wonder whatever happened to my purple and yellow “Give A Hoot, Don’t Pollute” shirt, though.

Best of all? I remember The Gong Show … one of the finest game shows to come out of the era. A show few could resist. A show on which you never really knew what would happen. A show that really opened the door to reality programming and wacky reality competitions. It took a while for the networks to get on board. But take a gander at any prime time television schedule currently and tell me The Gong Show wasn’t instrumental in ushering in many of those shows.

Chuck Barris was — and still is — one of my favorite emcees. He cavorted and danced and joked with a lameness only he could pull off. He got pies thrown in his face. Strangely enough, there were a few episodes he looked pissed off to the point he didn’t even want to be there for whatever reason. Often he gave the guise that he didn’t know what the hell he was doing on the show, which went hand-in-hand with why it seemed he lost control of the goings-on every once in a while. And … did he and the judges have fun on this show? You tell me:

I remember the band on the program. Tight. Lively. Frighteningly good. It was the sort of band that made you tap your toes and lift your mood. “Milton Delugg And The Band With A Thug.” Top rate. Milton was a genius in my book.

I remember the judges: Artie Johnson, Jaye P. Morgan, Pat McCormick, and Bill Bixby to name a few. Wayland Flowers, for Pete’s sake! The great Paul Williams. Buddy Hackett. I fell in love with Rip Taylor on the show … still love him to this very day. Cripes … even David Letterman was one of the judges from time to time. Plus more, more, and more. What a funktastic parade of celebrities.

And the pièce de résistance: Gene Gene, The Dancing Machine. Man, I loved that guy. I hazily remember him coming on as a contestant at one point, not knowing he was originally a stagehand. I went wild when Count Basie’s “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” came in earshot, knowing Gene Gene was about to take the stage. Come that piano intro I could feel the excitement rise in me like a fever.

Fortunately, we can still catch The Gong Show on the likes of The Game Show Network and its ilk.

Because to lose out on the antics and insanity of a vintage program such as this would simply be a crime.

“Take me into the commercial, Milt!”

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Mar 16, 2011 @ 14:08 EST5EDT